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Alfie/Behind the Scenes
Background Information Television Series Alfie is a fictional excavator created by Phil Fehrle. In 2002, Alfie made his debut in the sixth series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in the episode, Jack Jumps In. He later appeared in the twelfth series, the spin-off series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and the special, The Great Discovery. When the show transitioned into full CGI in 2009, Alfie was absent for six years. He later returned in the 2015 special, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and was one of the very few members of the Pack to return. From his return in 2015 until 2016, Alfie was voiced by Nathan Clarke in both the British English and American English dubs of the series. Since 2019, Alfie has been voiced by Tom Stourton, also in both English dubs. Behind the Scenes Live-action model Alfie's model was custom built by model maker, Chris Lloyd. The model's chassis was built out of brass and the top was built out of plastic to keep the weight down. A small flat fan was built underneath the chassis to cause the dirt to be kicked up. The model was painted in a matte finish and the numbers were custom stickers. There were three remotes built to control Alfie, one was used to control his movement, one was used to operated his bucket, and one was used to move his eyes. The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired. Eight faces were sculpted for Alfie. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. One of Alfie's semi-complete face mask is now preserved by the Top Props preservation group. File:AlfieConceptArt.png|Concept art File:AlfieModel1.jpg File:Alfie'smodel.jpg File:AlfieModelPromo.png The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion capture animation. The physical models' moulded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production. File:PercyandtheBandstand60.png Alfie has had modifications throughout the model era. These include: * The Great Discovery: ** The windscreen wipers above his face disappeared. * Series 12: ** He lost the freckles on his face. Close-up Model A close-up model of Alfie was required for scenes in the Jack and the Sodor Construction Company episode, Alfie Has Kittens, where he had to interact with close-up scale figures. The model was not complete and only the bucket was built. File:AlfieHasKittens60.png File:AlfieHasKittens67.png File:AlfieHasKittens71.png File:AlfieHasKittens72.png CGI Model In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Alfie was recreated from scratch in CGI by Arc Productions in 2014 for production of the 2015 special, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software. Alfie has had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include: * Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure: ** He increased in size. ** The colour of his alloys changed from cream to grey, like Jack's. ** His shovel now has three teeth instead of five. ** His cab-side window was split in two sections. File:AlfieCGI.png File:Alfiehead-onCGIpromo.png Voice Actors * Nathan Clarke * Tom Stourton * Toshio Kobayashi * Emiko Takeuchi * Gerardo García * Kai-Henrik Möller * Alexander Merbeth * Dan Schatzberg * Fernando Morata Category:Behind the Scenes Category:Images from behind the scenes Category:Images of Alfie